Monthly Archives: June 2010

Portfolio Research Project Start

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Just sent in my research project proposal – interesting how answering some of the questions just seemed to generate more and more questions in my mind. This is going to be a very exciting learning adventure!

A brief description of my project:

My main objective is to explore the potential of Web 2.0 tools for developing metacognition in learners, by having students create electronic portfolios and holding student-led conferences. While these practices are already taking place in many schools, they are not yet common practice in my school. So basically, the project will involve implementing, for the first time, the use of electronic portfolios in a 5th grade class.

Though I initially thought it would be easy, (process portfolio, of course!) I’m finding that I have lots of questions associated with really clearly defining:

  • the goal of the portfolio
  • the type of portfolio
  • the intended audience
  • the format

For example, what format of portfolio is developmentally appropriate yet evolves as the learner grows? What kind of portfolio at once shows process and is linked to developmental stages and the standards adopted by the school? (as an independent, international school, we get to pick and choose sets of standards and benchmarks! – a whole other conversation, but such an interesting one!).

One aspect I’ve struggled with in  the past is maintenance. My students have kept paper portfolios in past years. We were very diligent about starting them – the whole first section was all about the student as a learner – goals, interest inventories, learning style questionnaires – but then as things got busy, portfolios were put aside as we blasted through the content full steam ahead. Then there would be several days of scrambling to add artifacts & reflections to portfolios right before parent conferences. I guess I knew in my heart that this wasn’t exactly best practice…but I found it difficult to slow down and give the students time to reflect on a regular basis. They say we don’t learn from experience, but rather from reflecting on experience…and I’m hoping to practice what I preach here on this blog. If my project proposal is accepted, I’m hoping that will be added incentive to be more diligent in this respect.

Another big question mark in my mind is format. I have, in the past, experimented with ePearl (“electronic portfolio encouraging active and reflective learning” by the CSLP at Concordia University, Montreal). It’s a great tool and students who experimented with it seemed to enjoy it. That said, my slightly overly-optimistic (Polyanna?)  self hopes that the students will be so jazzed about their portfolio that they’ll want to continue to document their learning and discoveries – even after they leave our school. We have a very transient population, and for that reason, I’m leaning more towards Google Apps for Education, or perhaps student blogs…or…? Still trying to figure out what is most developmentally appropriate for 5th graders, yet leaves them with some room to grow. Any and all suggestions welcome!

In putting together my research project proposal, I had to submit a preliminary list of resources. Stay tuned for that list in an upcoming post!

Taking the plunge

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Diving in

It’s a very strange thing about social media really. When I first heard about Twitter and decided to try it out, I thought “Really? Do I really need to be notified when someone goes for coffee?”. I set Twitter aside for a while, but, as an avid iLearnTechnology reader, eventually, it became difficult to ignore. I decided to give Twitter another try. This time, I struck gold. Somehow I came to follow some of the best educators out there (@ktenkely first, then @ShellTerrell,  @web20classroom and it wasn’t long before the list became longer and longer… I  discovered fairly quickly that my hunger to learn something new everyday was going to be satisfied by my outstanding, ever-growing, PLN. I now readily admit that I am addicted to Twitter – or rather, I am addicted to my PLN!

When I first tried to write a personal blog, I really did it half-heartedly, because, being an extremely shy person I didn’t really feel the need to “put myself out there” – in fact, that’s what I wrote on my first post. Living overseas, my blog was really just an alternative to sending newsy e-mails to a bunch of people – including my parents! I found it difficult to reconcile keeping a personal blog and preserving personal privacy – so I set that aside for a while as well. Then I started reading other people’s blogs (Google Reader was a revelation for me!) and, after reading such high calibre blogs as Teacher Reboot Camp, Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day, Blogging About Web 2.0 Classroom, TeachPaperless I felt like I should be giving back to the community, but also thought, what could I possibly contribute?

Why I’m here

As it’s often the case for me, push had to come to shove before I took the plunge. I’m currently writing a proposal for some graduate course work that requires some sort of research project in educational technology. There are several topics that interest me, though I may have to apportion them out between other courses, but mainly, I’m interested in implementing ePortfolios with my 5th grade students, and introducing them to more Web 2.0 tools. That said, I must say that at this beginning stage, it seems to me that the two kind of go hand-in-hand. I thought that the best way to document my research and experience would be by starting my first professional blog… so voilà!

I have many questions and thoughts about using ePortfolios and Web 2.0 tools with elementary students, and hope to be able to use this blog both as a tool for sharing experience and resources, but also as a tool to think with. This is my first attempt at a professional blog, and I don’t expect to get it right the first time, nor the second, nor possibly the third. That said, I dare to hope that anyone who reads this blog will be kind enough to share comments, questions, tips, or throw rotten tomatoes to let me know if I’m off track. Thanks!